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What's left of old Akhaltsikhe is clustered between the castle and the bus station, a few roads with old stone houses lining the streets. The real attraction is just to walk through the narrow lanes and see life going on around you...a shepherd leading his cattle and sheep past a local school, women hanging their washing out while gossiping about neighbours, children playing football, donkeys carrying loads of firewood...a completely different atmosphere to the centre of town.
Written Sep 12, 2005
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She also told me about the history of the museum. After independence, the government had other things to worry about rather than financing museums, so the museum staff went without their salaries for many years. There was no heating, no electricity, no funding to preserve the more fragile exhibits, no money to buy clothes or feed dependent families. The museum and its staff survived, however, due to the efforts of a certain Jewish resident of Akhaltsikhe, who supported the museum financially until things got better. Two of the more impressive carpets in the final room were donated by him.
Don't miss the Photography room...here you will find hundreds of photos of local monks revisiting the many Georgian churches and monasteries in the "lost" kingdom of Tao-Klurjeti, now in Eastern Turkey. My favourite was the photo of flying monks, leaping from a great height, their robes billowing as they fell...apparently they remembered doing this from their childhood, and returning many years later, a photographer secretly captured it all on film.
In the castle compound is an old caravanserai and mosque complex, now used to house hundreds of inscriptions in various languages found in the area. The mosque was commissioned by the local pasha who ruled the town at a time when Russian invasion looked likely. The mosque was oredered to be built in such a style that it could easily be converted to a church later on, if needs be, but unfortunately the Ottoman rulers didn't take too kindly to this cunning plan, and once the mosque was complete, the local pasha was beheaded. Now it is neither church nor mosque, but, like the Aya Sofya in Istanbul, an eerie museum exhibit.
Entry costs 1 lari, while a guided tour costs 10 Lari (recommended)
Written Sep 12, 2005
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The unexpected highlight of a trip to Akhaltsikhe is the excellent museum inside the castle that looms over the old town. I'm not usually a museum person, and at first glance, it looked just like a hundred other museums I have visited...the exhibits of pots and stone-age axes with no labels, a few old carpets and some traditional clothes. Had I been left to explore on my own, I would have maybe spent twenty minutes poking round, trying hard to look interested and feeling obliged to look at every exhibit while under the beady eyes of the curator. But this museum's curator soon realised I was foreign (not difficult!) and introduced me to the English-speaking guide. From the huge smile on her face when I said I was English, I gathered that she didn't have too many opportunities to give a tour in that language...so unusually for me, I agreed to a guided tour.
I wasn't expecting much...after all, the guides in Tbilisi's museums four years ago had not been keen to volunteer information or answer questions, but my guide surprised me with fluent English and a keen interest in her subject. She was obviously passionate about the history of her local area, and this brought the museum alive. She told me about recent discoveries that there may be a connection between the early settlers of Samtskhe Javakheti and the Sumerians, something to do with their shared use of symbols...sun = woman, moon = man, star = children. Apparently the twelve pronged circle on Georgian coins today symbolizes the sun with the 12 months, a symbol of fertility. The legend of Queen Tamar was explained, that she was actually caled King because she was stronger than any man at the time. But her proudest achievement was identifying a petrified vine, which she enthusiastically showed me in the final room...not something I really understood, but interesting nonetheless.
(continued in following tip)
Written Sep 12, 2005
Address: Inside the castle on the hill.
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The unexpected highlight of a trip to Akhaltsikhe is the excellent museum inside the castle that looms over the old town. I'm not usually a museum person, and...
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Deep in the south of Georgia, close to the border with turkey, lies the sleepy town of Akhaltsikhe. The name means Newcastle (akhal = new, tsikhe = castle), but it couldn't be more different from its...
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